Officials at police headquarters here said the bombs were placed on a forested road in Awapalli area of Bijapur district, 500 km from Raipur.

A search team of the state police spotted the bombs and called in a bomb disposal squad that immediately defused them.
Police suspect that Maoists placed the bombs to target a convoy of police and paramilitary forces which was expected to cross the road in the afternoon.

Bijapur, along with Dantewada, Bastar, Narayanpur and Kanker districts, forms the 40,000 sq km forested Bastar region where Maoists have been running a parallel administration in the interiors since the 1980s.